Devils Do Cry
by KayBeth13
Summary: Dante meets Enzo's daughter Carla and almost instantly the pair dislike each other. However, when Vergil takes an interest in a strange energy Carla possesses, it's up to Dante to protect her. Can he do it without killing her or her killing him? Well..
1. Carla

_Devil may cry time! Now, I know I've suddenly started writing a load of new fics, but they're ones that I planned on writing months ago and have finally gotten round to writing them! I do not own any of the characters from Devil May Cry, but I do own Carla!_

"Dante! Where are ya?"

Dante sighed. Enzo. He'd had enough of the tubby Italian but if it wasn't for said person, he wouldn't get any jobs, which in turn meant he wouldn't get any money. He waited for Enzo to come to him, as he couldn't be bothered to get up out of his chair. However, when Enzo entered the room and Dante saw the teenage girl that followed him, he immediately sat up with interest. He ignored Enzo's rambling and kept his gaze on the girl, watching as she walked around the room, looking at various things, and whistling with interest as she saw Rebellion hanging up on the wall. She was quite tall, very slim yet well toned, and she had very light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The thing that caught his attention the most though was that her skin was quite tanned, something extremely unusual for a person with the hair and eye colour combination that she had.

"You listenin?"

"Nope."

Enzo growled slightly and Dante raised an eyebrow in warning, before averting his gaze back to the young woman. She noticed his gaze, but where most people would have looked uncomfortable, she simply smiled and gave him a quick wave. He smirked back, instantly liking her. Not only did she have great looks, it seemed as though she had an outgoing personality too, which was always a plus in his book. Enzo noticed where Dante's gaze was and frowned, before motioning for the girl to come over. She did and leant against him, using his shoulder as a stand. He angrily shook her off.

"Stop teasing me about my height, Carla!"

"Yeah, well I just can't get over the fact that the last time I saw you, I thought you were tall."

"Yes, well, you were only twelve and then you took your mother's height."

"Good thing I took her looks too, coz then I'dve ended up looking like you."

Enzo openly glared and muttered something in Italian. The girl just shrugged and rolled her eyes, a playful smirk on her face as she returned his comment with one of her own in flawless Italian. Dante watched the scene, his mind whirring with what he heard. He knew Enzo was in his late thirties, so it was possible that he had a kid, but he'd never even mentioned it before, so he wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"Umm, Enzo? Who's the chick?"

"Excuse me, but said Chick is standing right in front of you, so I'd appreciate it if you'd speak about me in a more polite manner."

Dante snorted.

"Look sweetheart, I don't have the faintest idea who you are, and so until I know then I'll refer to you however I please."

Enzo could sense the anger suddenly venting from the girl and he placed a firm restraining hand on her shoulder. She glowered at him but he just pulled the 'do as you're told' face and she huffed; folding her arms in frustration, but her stance relaxed showing him that she wasn't truly angry.

"Dante, this is my daughter Carla. She's just turned nineteen and her mother died two months ago, so she's moved here with me."

"Hi there Carla. See, now I know who ya are, I'll treat you with respect."

Carla frowned and rolled her eyes, but she sent him a small smile as well. Enzo told her to wait in the main entrance while he and Dante moved into the kitchen to discuss Dante's next job. She walked round the room again, stopping once more at Rebellion, gazing in awe at the sheer beauty and power of it. She turned to look at the seat that Dante had just vacated and saw two identical guns sitting on top of the desk. Identical at least except for their colours; one black, one white. She picked them up and carefully inspected both, noticing with fascination that they were both extremely light to handle, but the black one was slightly heavier, and on further inspection, she saw that they had both been modified for different purposes. The black one was designed for long range shooting, as the sights on it were more pronounced and the extra weight would make it easier to fire further distances. The white one had smaller sights, and she noticed that the actual trigger was much looser, an when she checked the magazine, she notice small modifications that told her it was deigned for short range distances and faster shooting. All in all she could tell that the guns had been professionally made and were a much better quality than any other gun that she had ever handled.

She placed the guns back down on the desk and sat in the chair that was behind it, placing her feet up on the top of the desk. She could hear the two men still talking, well, they were arguing about something now, so she knew that certainly for now, she was safe to put her feet up for a while. She fingered the chain hanging round her neck, gently stroking the pendant at the end. The last thing her mom had ever bought her had been this necklace. It was a simple chain with a small blue turquoise wand hanging off the end, and a silver dragon curled round the wand. Her mom saw her staring at it, and the next day she woke to find the necklace hanging off her bedroom mirror. Unfortunately, she also found out that morning that her mother had been killed while walking back home from work. She never got the chance to say thank you.

Carla was startled out of her thoughts when she heard heavy breathing coming from behind her. Normally she wouldn't have been bothered, but as she could still hear the other two arguing, she knew that whoever it was, they were making it obvious they were there. She looked up, and her jaw dropped at the sight of a grotesque _thing_ standing in front of her...with a SCYTHE in its hand! Before she had anytime to scream, the thing swung its scythe straight at her, and it was purely her reflexes from her gymnastics days that saved her as she quickly flipped herself forwards, over the things head. It turned to face her, and without thinking, she grabbed the guns off the desk and began shooting.


	2. What the Hell?

_Here's chapter 2. I hope you enjoy! Reviews are always welcomed with big smiles and warm hugs!_

Dante and Enzo stopped yelling the second they heard the first bang. Enzo being Enzo ran and hid under the nearest table. Dante being Dante rolled his eyes at Enzo's cowardice before running out into the entrance lobby just in time to see the demon turn to dust in front of a clearly very shaken up teenager. He couldn't stop for long though as three more popped up, and as Carla started shooting again, Dante quickly raced over to the wall and grasped hold of Rebellion, pulling it down and swinging it roughly so that he took off one of the demon's heads with it. More and more demons entered and Dante called out to Enzo, telling him to run, not realising that the Italian had already made a break for it. Before long, Dante found himself back to back with Carla, demons completely surrounding them.

"Damn." he muttered.

"Damn!? What the hell are these things!?"

Before he could respond, the crowd dispersed in the middle and a man came through to them, and Carla gasped at how identical he was to Dante. Without thinking, she moved closer to Dante, and as the man moved closer to them, she felt the muscles in his body tensen and one of his arms snaked round her, pressing her closer to his back.

"Hello little brother."

"Vergil. What do you want?"

"Vengeance. You may have beaten me once, but this time you won't be so fortunate."

Dante scratched the back of his head idliy and gave his brother a bored look. Vergil's eyes narrowed and as quick as she could bink, Carla found herself being grabbed and pulled out of the way, to the other side of the rom.

"What the...?"

She looked back at the ring of demons, only to find that the whole room was completely empty. In fact the only thing that gave any evidence of their visitors was the large gash in the floor. Right where she had just been standing.

"Holy..."

"Nothin' holy here, I can tell you that much."

It was then that she realised that the pair of them were actually hanging off a beam on the ceiling. She immediately freaked out and demanded that Dante put her back on the floor. He did so and she quickly moved away from him, pale and shaking with fear. He stepped forward, but she just shook her head.

"Uh-uh, you stay right there. Now tell me, what the hell were those THINGS and who was that guy who just tried to KILL us!?"

"Ok, those things were demons, sent from hell to kill me most probably. They exist all around us but people generally only find out about them when one kills them. That guy is my twin brother. He detests that he is half human and so joined the demon team and tried to unleash hell onto the planet. I however sided with the humans and with the help of a few friends, defeated him."

Carla watched him with her eyes still widened for a few seconds as she let the information sink into her head. Finally she found her voice and was able to speak again.

"So, you're telling me that you're half human?"

"Yes."

"The other half?"

"Devil"

Immediately her eyes widedned again and she ran towards the entrance. Dante grasped hold of her wrist and as she screamed in panic, he clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Hey, hey I'm not going to hurt you!"

He released his hand from her mouth and she glared at him with a mixture of panic, fear and anger.

"Right, you just told me that you're half devil and you think I'm gonna stick around? No way!"

"Not all devils are evil. My father came to the human world to protect them, and fell in love with my mother. Just because I have devil blood does not mean that I am going to hurt you."

"But you're brother-"

"Is an evil bastard who apparently didn't get the message last time whe I told him I wouldn't let him destroy the human race."

"I think you need to explain a few things."

Dante looked at her and he had to admit that considering she had come face to face with a demon less than five minutes ago, she appeared to be extremely calm, but on further inspection, he could see that she was extremely shaken. He nodded to her statement and indicated for her to take a seat on the couch.

"I think you're right"


	3. Fall Outs and Run Ins

Carla fell back onto the sofa with a soft thump. She looked up at Dante with a look of weariness on her face.

"So, devils and demons are real?"

Dante gave her a smirk.

"Yep. As are ghosts and other assorted monsters."

"How about Santa? Is he real too?" she asked, faking innocence on her face.

Dante threw his head back and laughed. When he looked back down at Carla, he saw her watching him with a warm smile on her face, causing something in his stomach to stir. He let out a small cough and rubbed the back of his neck. Carla smirked and he nudged her, causing her to pitch forward.

"Hey, you jerk! What the hell was that for!"

Dante just smirked and started walking away. Unfortunately he didn't get very far as something very solid and hard connected with the back of his head. He let out a yell and spun round to see one of the balls from the pool table lying next to his foot. He then looked at Carla to see her glaring at him with her arm raised, ready to throw another ball at him.

"Bitch! What the Hell!"

Carla lowered her arm and sent him a smirk before flicking her wrist and throwing the ball back onto the table.

"Don't walk away from me when I'm having a go at you. It tends to get you hurt" she simply stated.

Dante looked blankly at her for a few minutes, not quite sure how to respond. Eventually he settled for chuckling and giving her a respectful smile before settling at his desk with a slice of cold pizza. Carla smiled back and while Dante ate, she sat back down on the sofa, silently surveying the building. For a while they were both quiet, each one lost in their own thoughts and actions, but the quiet was broken when the front door opened and Enzo came stumbling back in.

"Enzo, you nasty little coward. There you are!" Dante yelled

"Nice work back there dad, did a great job helping us out!" Carla yelled at the same time.

Enzo, stunned by the yells, took a step back and raised his arms in surrender.

"I'm sorry! I just saw those things and ran. You know I can't fight, Dante!"

Dante shrugged his shoulders in acceptance and sauntered off towards the kitchen. Carla simply continued to glare at her dad, who shrank back even further.

"And what about ME dad? Those things were attacking your ONLY child, yet you still ran!"

Enzo dropped his head and gave her a pleading look.

"Carla, I am so sorry, but I am not a fighter. I am a coward. I see something coming at me, I run. You on the other hand, are just like your mother. She never backed away from a fight and was always the first one to defend somebody. I know I've disappointed you your whole life and I know that what happened back there has more than likely lowered your opinion of me even further but all I can do is apologise and hope you'll forgive me."

Carla continued to glare at Enzo and when he realized she wasn't going to be forgiving him any time soon, his shoulders slumped and he turned to leave again.

"Will you be staying with me tonight?" He asked her, his voice hopeful.

"It's not like I have a choice." Carla snapped.

Giving Dante a quick nod and smile, she brushed past Enzo and out of the door. Enzo called out after her.

"Where are you going?"

Carla yelled back in Italian.

"Anywhere. I just need to cool off a bit. See you later."

Enzo watched her until she vanished from sight. He then let out a small sigh and turned to look at Dante, who was looking at the wall behind him, his expression showing no interest, but Enzo knew he had been interesting in everything that was said.

"You gonna yell at me too, Dante?" He asked the young demon hunter.

Dante kicked back in his chair and gave the Italian one of his arrogant smirks.

"Nah, I think your kid did that enough for the both of us."

Enzo said nothing and simply turned his gaze back out to the empty street that his daughter had just vanished down.

...

Carla walked round the corner and once she knew she was out of her dad's sight, took off in a run down the unfamiliar streets. Eventually, she found herself in a wide open park with a large pond in the centre. She jogged over to the pond and stood on the small bridge that crossed it. She took a few seconds to catch her breath before flopping down and sitting with her legs dangling down off the bridge. Her arms crossed on a beam in front of her and she rested her chin on it, gazing blankly at the crystal blue water. For a second, the colour of the water reminded her of Dante's eyes, but she quickly brushed the thought away.

Her head was swimming with the events of the day. It was hard enough trying to settle into the loneliness of life living with her ever-vanishing dad who was always away either working or at the local strip bars. It was another thing altogether meeting a half devil demon hunter and having a said demon try to kill her as well as the half devil's twin brother also try to kill her. She frowned, wandering why bad things always seemed to happen to her lately but found herself not really caring. Bad things happened all the time, it just seemed like it was her turn this time. She knew there was nothing she could do about it so she just resigned herself to it.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there for, all she was aware of was that it was growing steadily darker by the minute and as much as she was angry at Enzo, she didn't want him to worry as that wasn't fair on him. She stood up and stretched, noting with caution how siulent the park had become. Earlier there were people out walking dogs, joggers and children playing but no, it was eerily silent. Even the water seemed to still. It made her uneasy and she started heading out the way she came, hoping that this wasn't an area the local thugs used.

She made it to the line of trees at the edge of the park and breathed a silent sigh of relief. At least she could hear cars and people on the other side, so she felt slightly safer. It wasn't until she reached the trees that she felt a dark, cold presence behind her. She didn't want to turn around as instinctively she just knew who it was. She felt her body move despite her mind screaming to run and the next thing she knew she was face to face (well, face to shoulder, anyway) with Vergil. She let out a small squeak of surprise but before it could turn into anything louder, she suddenly found herself being grabbed and her mouth covered. She glared up at Vergil and he returned it.

"If I were you, I would be very quiet right now. I know you are aware that there are people just over there and that if you scream they will all come rushing to help, but I warn you, I will not hesitate to kill anyone that comes this way, understand?"

Carla nodded in fear and he let go of her, stepping away from her and wiping his hand as if she was something revolting that he had the misfortune to touch. This made her glare harder.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

Vergil tilted his head slightly, observing her. His cool blue eyes pierced into hers and she couldn't help but wonder how he and Dante could be so identical yet so different. Dante's eyes had laughter and life in them. Vergil's eyes were simply cold and hard with no feeling there whatsoever. It sent a chill through her and she couldn't stop the shiver that ran up her back. Vergil smirked before giving her a slightly confused look.

"You seem very familiar...like someone I recently killed."

Carla stepped back and gave him a horrified look. Her horror quickly turned to anger and as her body began to tramble, her fists clenched and she had to use every ounce of her willpower to stop herself from hitting him. Vergil watched with amusement.

"Well my dear. It seems I've hit a raw nerve. That being said I will leave but I WILL be seeing you again."

Before she could blink or react, he simply vanished, leaving nothing behind to tell her that he had indeed been real. Thoroughly shaken, Carla sprinted home and when she saw the lights were on, she found herself happier to be there than she ever had in her life. She slammed the front door behind her and sank to the floor, her body giving in as she succumbed to the sobs that had been trying to break out since she saw Vergil.

Enzo heard the front door slam and walked out of the kitchen to reprimand his daughter, but at the sight of Carla sobbing on the floor, all anger left him to be replaced with worry and concern. He crouched down in front of her.

"Carla?"

At the sound of her dad's voice, Carla jumped forward and wrapped her arms round him, buriying her head in his neck and telling him through her tears what had happened. Enzo hugged her back until she calmed enough for him to talk to her.

"You've had a long, stressful day. I know I didn't help by running away earlier and I can only apologise for that. However I want you to know that I am still your father and I do love you with all my heart. I know I'm nowhere near a perfect human, and I've been a pretty atrocious father to you but I hope you know that I'm always there if you need me."

Carla nodded, suddenly seeing her dad for the first time not as a low life piece of scum (which she fully knew he was), but as a father. She gave him a small smile before putting her arms round him once again.

"Thanks dad." She whispered.


	4. A Little More Depth

_This chapter's more of a filler as I wanted to establish a bit more depth to Carla. In this chapter you will find out a bit more about her past as well as more about the sort of person she is._

_..._

The next few weeks passed by in a blue for Carla. Between settling in to her new home, finding a job and going out to meet new people, she found she barely had time to think and had almost forgotten about Vergil. _Almost_.

Dante, however, she couldn't forget even if she wanted to. Whenever she did stop to pause, he would fill her mind. Even today, she found herself sitting on her bed, staring at the blank wall in front of her, thinking about him. It seemed like everywhere she turned, there he was. She did spend quite a bit of time at his place with her dad, so it couldn't be avoided there, but he was literally everywhere she went. It was beginning to frustrate her as she didn't quite understand why he was doing it.

It didn't help that any initial attraction she'd felt towards him had vanished during those few weeks, to be replaced by a severe dislike, even resentment for him. The playful cockiness he exuded when she first met him had evolved into pure arrogance and the more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to slap the smirk off his face. More importantly she wanted to see some of the gleam in his eyes go. Every time she saw him looking at her, she couldn't help but wonder what he was going to do to her that time. So far, he'd played numerous pranks on her but whenever she challenged him over it he simply responded that it was his way of seeing if she could cope with him around.

She knew it was unlikely she could.

Carla had always been mature for her years. Having a prostitute for a mother had meant that from a very early age, she'd had to learn to cook, clean and fix her problems by herself. As Carla would wake for school, she often heard her mother going to bed after just getting back from work and by the time Carla got back from school, her mom had usually already disappeared off to work once again. Carla wished she could say that the money her mother received was spent well. Sure, her mom paid the bills and the rent and bought them food, but every single scrap of money left over went onto one thing; heroin. It pained Carla to know that her mother was a drug addicted, alcoholic prostitute but she also knew there was nothing she could do about it except carry on with her life as normally as she could. She was grateful that her mom never brought work home with her; that, Carla knew she could never forgive.

So, for Carla, she was finding it hard to be around Dante who was so completely different to her. Where she was mature, he was immature. Where she was organised and pulled together, he lived life by the off chance that he's strike it lucky. Where she actually ate properly, he lived on pizza and tomato juice with the odd take out and strawberry sundae thrown in. It made her sick that someone could genuinely live happily like that but at the same time there was a small amount of jealousy involved. She'd had to grow up far too quickly and as a result had missed out on a lot of things teenagers and children usually did. There was no visiting the zoo during the weekends, no picnics, no simply just hanging out with her friends. By the time she was thirteen, everyone knew what her mother was and no one save the children of her mom's colleagues would have anything to do with her. She wished she had more self confidence and even though she socialized more now she had graduated school, she found it really hard to open up to people and as a result, the people she did meet eventually faded away.

She didn't tell Enzo about her loneliness, she just got on with it like she had done all her life. Besides, she knew that for all Enzo cared about her, he wouldn't do anything to help her as he was generally too busy getting his rocks off with some floozy. That's how she'd been conceived anyway. Her mom was a stripper at one of the locals, her dad slept with her without using protection and nine months later her mom was left holding the baby as Enzo (quite rightly) stated that he had no clue what to do with a kid and that there was no way he would be able to give the baby the proper care and attention she needed. So, her mom simply packed her bags and moved away. Carla still saw her dad growing up. He used to visit every couple of months but then the arguments between him and her mom started, mainly over the fact her mom was neglecting her. Eventually her mom simply told Enzo never to come back. Carla was twelve and she didn't see him again until her mom died.

A sudden knock at the door broke Carla out of her trance and she sluggishly made her way downstairs to answer it. When she saw it was Dante she struggled to contain the groan and instead gave him a slight grimace.

"You're that happy to see me?" he smirked.

"What do you want, Dante? Dad's not here and he doesn't have any work for you."

Dante's gaze met hers and as always, she couldn't resist staring at them.

"I know. I was bored and thought I'd come keep you company as you don't really go out much."

Carla snorted, trying to hide the hurt she felt at the level of truth in his words.

"Fine, come on in. Number's on the fridge if you want to order pizza."

Dante grinned and pulled a couple of frozen pizzas out of the bag he was carrying.

"Got my own"

Even though she found it hard to cope with Dante and still didn't like him very much, Carla couldn't help but be touched at his thoughtfulness and found herself unable to not smile at his cheerfulness.

Maybe he wasn't so bad deep down after all.


	5. Encounters in the Mind

_Vergil returns! Dum-dum duuuuuum! Hope you enjoy reading it! I know I enjoyed writing it!_

_..._

The dream came a week later.

For a few days leading up to it, Carla found her sleep was being broken all over the place due to a few very strange dreams she'd been having. Each one was stranger and more frightening than the one before, but every time she woke up trying not to scream, she would instantly forget what it was about, which irritated her. At least if she knew what had scared her she could do something about it.

As a result, her day to day performance was slipping. She found it harder and harder to stay asleep and eventually reached a point where even though she was permanently exhausted, she was reluctant to go to sleep as she knew there wasn't much point. The dreams would just wake her up again anyway.

It wasn't until the fourth night that she discovered the reason behind the dreams.

After having fought sleep for almost three days, Carla didn't even notice that her eyes had drifted shut. The first she knew about it was when she found herself on the bridge in the park that she'd found after meeting Dante and Vergil. She gave the bridge a confused look and cursed under her breath.

"Damn it, I fell asleep! What's going to terrorise me this time?" she muttered.

She heard a chuckle from behind her and instantly froze in fear. Whatever had been scaring her up until this point was nothing compared to the paralyzing terror she felt this time. All instincts told her to run, but she knew it wouldn't help. The only way to get away this time would be to wake herself up and as she had no idea how to do that, she simply turned to face the demon. Well, she thought, half-devil was more appropriate.

"Vergil." She whispered.

Vergil said nothing, just stared at her with his cool gaze. He stepped forwards and automatically, Carla stepped back, trying to distance herself from him. He smirked at this and for a split second, she saw Dante in front of her. Before she was able to punch him like she dearly wanted, she managed to rein her anger in, reminding herself that he wasn't Dante and that unlike Dante who would laugh it off, Vergil would be more likely to kill her if she hit him.

"So, how have you been enjoying your dreams lately?" Vergil asked her.

Carla looked at him in shock.

"It was you? You sent me those dreams? Why?" she asked in a panic.

Vergil continued to gaze at her for a few seconds before he answered. Carla shivered at the pure evil, cold essence that oozed off him.

"I wished to speak with you in private. Since your head is the most private place on Earth, I had to find a way to lower your mental barriers. All I did was make it so that you would fight sleep and eventually your guards broke and so when you finally fell asleep it was easy for me to get in."

Carla glared at him. Once again, her fists clenched and when he walked towards her, she found herself defiantly standing on the spot, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear. Vergil continued towards her until she was pressed up against him and gave her a cold smile.

"That's a feisty spirit you have there. It's just a shame it won't help you."

"W...what do you mean?" she stammered.

"Well, there's something different about you. If I could only think why you seem familiar I would know instantly why you're different. All I know is that there is a lot of power in you, and I plan on taking it."

Carla watched as he spoke, unable to form any coherent thought or speech. When Vergil reached up and gently took hold of a strand of her blonde hair, she felt a ripple of fear run through her and couldn't stop herself from shaking.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Besides, Dante stopped you once, he'll be able to do it again" she said and added a smirk at the end for emphasis.

She regretted it as soon as she did it. As if a switch went off, Vergil's eyes snapped back to their cold, brutal emptiness. The hand that had grasped her hair lightly tightened and he grasped a handful of hair, sharply pulling her head up. He glared at her and she looked up at him in terror.

"Is that so? Well, why is he not here stopping me now? If anyone tries to stop me from getting what I want from you then the consequences will be dire for them."

He crashed his mouth onto Carla's and instantly, her head was filled with images of him slaughtering everyone she knew. She couldn't stifle the scream that was building up and as he shoved her away from him, the scream burst out of her.

She was still screaming as she flew up into a sitting position and the first thing she did was reach for the phone, dialling Dante. She knew her dad was out drinking somewhere and she was glad as she didn't think he'd quite understand what she was feeling. Dante, however, she just knew would listen and more importantly, understand how she was feeling at that moment. The phone rang a couple of times before a groggy voice answered.

"Enzo? I swear to god if you're ringing me because you're drunk and want a ride home I will kill you" came Dante's sleep-ridden voice.

"Dante?" Carla asked.

"Carla? Ehm, sorry about that." He apologised.

Carla couldn't help but smile but as she thought of Vergil, the smile faded and she shivered. She wrapped an arm round herself for comfort but it didn't help.

"Can you come get me?" she asked in a timid voice.

"Don't tell me it's you that's drunk and needs a ride?" he teased.

All of a sudden Carla felt herself tearing up and she stifled a sniffle to speak. Dante heard it anyway and gave the wall opposite him a worried frown.

"Carla?"

"I'm sorry. It's just...Vergil. H...he"

"Did he hurt you?" Dante asked, sitting up and pushing his hair out of his face. He threw his covers off and quickly rushed around his room, dressing.

"Not exactly, but he...look, I just need company right now. Please?"

"I'll be there in ten minutes"

"But..."

Before she had chance to express the fact that she lived twenty minutes from him, the phone went dead. Carla put it to one side and decided to wait by the front door. Sure enough, not even ten minutes passed before she heard the sound of Dante's bike engine coming up the drive. She unlocked the door and when he knocked, she opened it quickly, throwing her arms round him the moment he stepped into the hallway.

"Hey, what the Hell?" he asked, confused by her actions.

Carla couldn't speak through her tears and Dante found himself simply holding her while she let her fear out.

"Can we get away from here please?" Carla pleaded.

Dante nodded and led her to his bike. Carla climbed on and as he seated himself in front of her, she wrapped her arms round his waist and rested her head on his back. Dante coughed slightly before kicking the bike into gear and pulling out of the drive.

Not long after the pair of them were back at Dante's, sitting on the sofa so that Carla could tell him about the dreams, including the most recent one about Vergil. By the time she finished, she noticed that Dante had gone very quiet but he was sitting ramrod straight, every muscle in his body tensed up, his eyes hard. His fists were clenched and when Carla looked closer she could see that he was biting the inside of his mouth.

"Dante?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm.

"Don't." He said.

Carla took her hand off him and he stood up. He walked over to rebellion and picked the sword up. Carla's eyes widened and she quickly scrambled up off the sofa and jumped in front of him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Finding the bastard and ending this"

A chuckle filled the room and Carla felt the familiar shudder of dread ripple through her once again. As she moved behind Dante, he reached round her and gave her an encouraging hug.

"It'll be okay." He whispered.

He turned to glare at the door and as Vergil stepped into the building, Carla felt him tense even further.

"Vergil" Dante growled.

"I thought you wanted to end this?" Vergil taunted.

Dante took a step towards his brother but Carla put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not worth it. Please don't do this."

Dante looked at the pleading in her eyes and with a sigh, lowered Rebellion. Vergil raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Good choice, brother. Besides I merely came here to make sure that Carla remembers my warning."

Carla frowned.

"I heard it loud and clear." She spat.

Vergil smirked and not a moment later, he vanished. Dante looked at Carla, who dropped her fearless face and wrapped her arms round herself. He could see she was shaking and without a word, he wrapped his arms round her.

"How do you do that?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Do what?" Carla asked.

"One minute you look terrified, then you get angry and start talking back to him, then you go back to being scared. It's strange."

Carla shrugged slightly.

"I think it's because I forget at times he's not you so I just snap. Then I remember who he is and what he'd do to me and I get scared again. I hate being afraid of him, but I can't help it."

"I understand. Something I don't understand though; why did you stop me from fighting him?" Dante asked.

"I didn't want to see you get hurt. I'm not worth it."

"You're worth more than you think" Dante said softly, almost inaudibly.

Carla heard him and her heart skipped. She frowned at herself and pulled away from Dante. She gave him a small smile.

"Thanks"

Dante gave her a genuine smile and brushed a bang of her hair off her face. Carla gasped slightly as it was almost exactly what Vergil had done to her in her dream. Unlike her dream though, she felt comforted by Dante's actions, not fearful as she'd been when Vergil did it.

The pair of them sat back down on the sofa and Dante, once he was lounged back comfortably, flicked the TV on. Before long, Carla felt her eyes start to close. She quickly snapped them open again and sat up, rubbing her face as she did. Dante glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and held his hand out to her. Carla gave it a confused look and Dante smiled.

"I don't bite."

Carla returned his smile with a smirk and let him take her hand. He pulled her to him and she found herself using his chest to rest her head on as he put his arm round her.

"Sleep. I promise he won't do anything to you."

Carla smiled fondly and finally let her eyes slide shut. It was less than a minute later that Dante felt her breathing change and when he glanced down at her, he smiled to see that she had fallen into a deep sleep. He felt strange, having never done anything like that before, but he found that he felt oddly content. He kissed her on the top of her head before turning his gaze back to the screen, all thoughts of killing Vergil gone for now as he kept his arms protectively round Carla.


	6. Phonecalls

_Just wanted to make a quick note to all who have reviewed. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. I'm really enjoying writing it and I'm quite proud of this one as I haven't been reading over it thinking damn I should've changed that! It's all okay! There's still about another 10 chapters to go, so I hope you stick with me!_

_..._

The following morning, Carla walked home feeling slightly more confident about her situation. Okay, sure, Vergil told her he would kill Dante if Dante got involved, but Carla couldn't help but put her faith completely in Dante. Despite all his flaws, she could still see the goodness in him and last night told her that he would protect her no matter what. As she entered the house and heard her dad shuffling round the kitchen she smiled. At least he was safe for now.

"Hey dad" she called.

The shuffling in the kitchen stopped and a second later, Enzo's head appeared round the doorway.

"Carla! Where were you?" he asked.

Carla let out a sigh, hoping he hadn't noticed her disappearance. She spent the next while telling him all that had happened the night before and he listened closely, the worried frown never once leaving his face. When she finished talking, he let out a breath of air and rubbed his face with his hand before giving her a sidelong look.

"Trouble just seems to follow you doesn't it?" he asked her.

Carla gave him a small smile and nodded sadly.

"It would seem so. I wish it wouldn't though."

Enzo chuckled softly

"That's how I feel whenever I'm around Dante. I always hope that maybe he won't run into trouble but he always does and I'm always dragged into it. Hey, I just found something you two have in common other than your attitudes! Trouble seems to follow you both."

Carla shoved her dad and gave him a playful scowl before dropping onto one of the kitchen chairs and letting her head fall onto the table. Enzo winced at the thud and grinned when, after a few second's pause, there was a very small groan of pain.

"Why does it have to be me though?" she mumbled.

Enzo smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know honey. All I do know is that Dante will help you through this. He may seem like a cocky, arrogant little shit, which he is, but he has a heart of gold and no matter what, he always protects those he cares about, even me and I'm just a scab."

"Dad, you're not a scab. Maybe a lowlife, but not as bad as a scab."

"Thanks Carla."

"Love you dad"

The pair grinned at each other before Enzo declared that the rest of the day was to be spent watching movies and eating popcorn. He also decided to order in pizza and while he made the call, Carla quickly rang Dante to invite him over.

"Sorry babe, I can't right now. Just got a job come through so I'll be hunting today."

"Be careful, okay?"

"Hey, it's me you're talking to."

Carla frowned and gripped the phone tighter.

"Dante! Just...promise me. Please."

"Didn't know you cared about me enough to worry babe" Dante joked.

"Dante..." Carla growled in warning.

Dante let out a soft sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay. I promise I'll be careful. I'll even stop by after so you can see I'm okay, is that good for you?"

Carla's frown turned into a smile and she nodded before remembered he couldn't actually see her.

"Yeah, that's fine with me. See you later."

"Ciao."

She disconnected the call with a smile on her face.

Dante disconnected his phone and couldn't help but sigh.

"Dante, you're letting yourself get in too far." He muttered.

He shrugged it off and picked up his usual weapons. The time for thinking about a pretty blonde was over. It was time to hunt.


	7. Powers Surfacing

_Two updates in one day! Quite proud of myself for that! In this chapter: More bonding and spark building between Carla and Dante, More Enzo being yelled at (poor guy!) and more Vergil! Enjoy!_

_Also, thank you Rialga for your reviews. They keep me inspired to write!_

By the time Dante managed to track down and kill the demon he'd been hunting, night had fallen. He glanced at his watch, surprised to find himself hoping that it wasn't too late. He shook his head. So what if it was late? He'd just go to Enzo's in the morning and say that it took longer than expected. As soon as the thought entered his mind he decided against it. He knew Carla well enough to know she'd probably stay awake until he arrived and even though he still found her to be irritating at times, he didn't want her worrying unnecessarily over him. She worried enough as it was with the whole Vergil thing.

He was frustrated. He wasn't overly keen on Carla, he found her too mature and far too organised for his liking. Sure, she had backbone and when she used it she was one hell of a feisty girl, but it was so rare for her to show that side of her, he was worried that one day she would lose it forever. There were the odd moments where she would look at him or speak to him and for a moment, she was simply Carla, not the person she had to become growing up, the girl who had to be so adult and prepared for anything that came her way. It was those times, when she glared at him and yelled at him, that Dante saw the real Carla, and he found himself unexplainably drawn to it. Part of the reason he was such a dick towards her was for her to reveal that side of her more often. He wanted her to see that she didn't always have to be what she thought the world wanted her to be.

He was also confused. On one hand he didn't want to be around her, but on the other hand, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let her go. When she looked at him with such fear after Vergil appeared in her dream, he felt an anger he'd never felt before. At that moment, he wanted to rip Vergil apart and if she hadn't stopped him, he probably would've done just that.

Dante growled to himself. He knew he had feelings for Carla as much as he didn't want to. It was partly fear that stopped him from accepting it. Everyone he ever loved, ever cared for, had always either been killed or turned against him. The worst were the ones that simply vanished. His mother was killed, Vergil wanted him dead, Trish and Lady simply vanished without a trace and Enzo had almost been killed too many times to count. He was scared to let Carla get too close because he just knew that she would end up hurt if she did. However, he wasn't stupid; he knew he had to keep her close at the minute because if he didn't, Vergil would take her. He wasn't about to let that happen and he suddenly knew how he could protect her better.

...

Carla paced the living room, glancing at the clock periodically only to groan in frustration to see that only a few minutes had passed. 1am. 1.02 am. 1.5 am. It went on like that to the point she wanted nothing more than to destroy the clock. Enzo had gone to bed over an hour ago and she could hear his loud snores filtering down the stairs, adding to her frustration.

She heard footsteps walking up the drive and spun round to open the front door. As she opened it though, she gasped. That wasn't Dante.

Vergil smirked down at her and before she had time to scream, he shook his head and placed a finger on her mouth.

"I will kill him" he said.

Carla closed her eyes, wishing this was just her imagination but when she reopened her eyes to see his piercing gaze watching her, she gulped. Nope, this was all too real. Vergil smirked again and walked past her, into the living room where she noticed he started looking at the photos scattered around the room. Thinking quickly, she reached into her pocket and dialled Dante's number, praying Vergil wouldn't hear her.

Vergil glanced around the room, taking in all the various images scattered around. His eyes stopped on a photo of a beautiful woman with light blonde hair and deep blue eyes whose arms were wrapped round a child that looked identical to her. His eyes widened in surprise momentarily as he recognised the woman. He knew now why the girl in the hallway seemed so familiar to him ad it only made him want to extract her power even more. It was like a hunger awakened in him, craving the powers she possessed so ignorantly within her. He suddenly heard a phone ringing faintly and snapped his head towards the direction of the hallway.

Dante felt his phone vibrate and raised a questioning eyebrow to see it was Carla.

"Miss me that much sweetheart?" he chuckled before answering the call.

Before he had chance to speak, he heard a voice that made his blood run cold.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Vergil. Dante threw his phone in his pocket and before he knew it, he found himself running as fast as he could towards Carla's house.

Carla froze and turned to face Vergil who was glaring at her.

"Nothing."

Vergil glared even further and reached out to grasp her. Carla managed to dodge him and ran into the living room in an attempt to open the sliding door and escape via the garden. Vergil growled and before Carla had enough time to reach the door, he appeared in front of her.

"What do you want from me!" she screamed.

The snores from upstairs stopped and Carla felt dread go through her. Fortunately, they started up again and she couldn't help the relief she felt. She looked back at Vergil who was smirking once again.

"That wasn't very clever of you"

Carla didn't say anything. Instead, she just glared at the floor, too scared to glare at him.

"What do you want from me?" she repeated.

Vergil stepped closer to her, but not close enough to touch her.

"I knew when I first saw you that you had a power in you that you weren't even aware of. It's only now that I realise what is so..._ethereal _about you. It's your mother."

Carla looked at him in surprise.

"What about my mom? She's dead."

Vergil gave her a cold smile and she felt a shiver run down her back.

"You killed her, didn't you?"

"Very clever of you. When I first saw you I said you looked like somebody I killed. That's because you're the daughter of that person. It's all so clear to me now!"

Carla was scared, confused and angry. Angry that he could just taunt her about her mother's death, as if it was nothing. Scared of what he was going to do to her and confused about what this 'power' was he kept talking about.

"What 'power'?" she asked.

Vergil's smirk dropped as his hunger for her power took over. His eyes darkened and when Carla saw this, her fear increased until she felt as though she was about to explode. As he drew closer to her, the sense of danger and terror increased and she could feel it bubbling up inside of her. She felt a scream start to build up and even though she tried to fight it, she knew it wasn't going to work. As Vergil touched her, the scream erupted out of her. She closed her eyes as she screamed and when she stopped, she felt herself dropping to the floor, her energy drained.

She opened her eyes and her jaw dropped. Vergil was lying in the garden, face down in the grass. The sliding door no longer existed, a large hole in the wall was the only thing left. There was rubble and debris scattered around the room, but most of it had gone into the garden.

"What the Hell?" she muttered.

She heard someone walking towards her and braced herself but as she saw Dante's red coat appear in front of her, she breathed a sigh of relief. Dante gave her a worried look and reached down to lift her up off the floor. He set her down on her feet but she grabbed him just in time to stop her legs from collapsing underneath her.

"Sorry, whatever happened there took all my energy."

Dante chuckled and lifted her up bridal style. As soon as she was in his arms again, Carla felt a wave of comfort hit her and she rested her head on his chest, almost instantly falling into a deep sleep. Dante turned to face Vergil, only to find his brother had gone. He cursed under his breath.

"What happened to my living room!"

Dante glanced at Enzo, who was standing in the doorway, a look of horror on his face.

"Your daughter happened to it. I think that whatever this power Vergil keeps talking about surfaced when he tried to attack her."

"Carla did this? Wait, Vergil was here?" Enzo asked.

"Yeah. Carla managed to call me but by the time I got here, she'd already done this and Vergil had gone. I'm taking her back to mine tonight and I'll come by in the morning to help you with this. No doubt your neighbours have called the cops so you'll have to come up with something."

Enzo, too tired to properly take everything in, simply nodded and continued to stare at his destroyed living room in shock as Dante carried Carla out of the house.


	8. Headaches

_I find it very ironic that Carla has a headache in this chapter as I myself am recovering from a pretty bad migraine and my head hurts just writing about headaches! Still, on with the story I go..._

When Carla woke up the next morning, she immediately felt as though she'd had a ten tonne weight smashed into her head. She reached over to turn her lamp on only to frown in confusion when she discovered it wasn't there. She sat up and as her eyes began to adjust to the light, she realised she didn't actually know where she was. She looked around for clues and when she caught sight of a red leather jacket thrown carelessly over a chair by an old desk, she felt herself relax. There was a knock at the door and it cracked open slightly.

"Hey kiddo, is it okay to come in?"

She chose to ignore the fact he called her kiddo and gave her consent.

"Sure thing Dante"

Dante pushed the door open wider and as the bright light from outside filtered through, Carla found herself yelping and pulling the duvet over her head, instantly feeling better as the darkness soothed her head.

"Sorry."

She peeked over the covers to see that the door had been shut again, the room returning to its semi-dark state. She gave Dante a small smile and he held out a glass of water along with two aspirin tablets.

"For your head."

Carla raised a questioning eyebrow.

"How did you know I had a bad head?" she asked him.

"You woke up a couple of times during the night. The first time you were screaming in agony, the second time you were whimpering. At least this time you were with it enough to realise I was here."

Carla could see the worry in his eyes and she gave him a grateful smile. She took the tablets he offered and swallowed them, grateful to have some form of relief.

"The last thing I remember was you helping me up off the floor. What happened after that?" she asked.

Dante could see the unasked question of 'How did dad take it?' and fought the grin that wanted to appear.

"Don't worry, your dad's getting compensation to rebuild the room. I helped him make it look like a truck had gone off the road and crashed into the wall, so it's all sorted. I explained to the best of my knowledge what happened and he seemed pretty worried about you. I also told him that as you were passed out in my arms at the time that I'd bring you here because if Vergil came back, you couldn't defend yourself."

Carla listened to everything he said with a thoughtful expression. When he finished, she lay back down and gazed up at him.

"Thanks. I don't know why you're helping me but I'm glad you are."

Dante reached down and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm helping because as much as he annoys me, Enzo is my closest friend and I care about him a lot. Hell, I even consider him family, you know like the annoying uncle everyone loves to hate?"

Carla giggled but when she saw the seriousness in Dante's expression, she settled for smiling and letting him continue.

"Therefore, that makes you family too and there's no way on earth I'm letting Vergil take someone I love from me. Too many people have been hurt or killed because of me. You're not going to be one of them, I promise."

A haunted look took over Dante's eyes. Carla wanted to say something to him, but when she opened her mouth to speak, all that came out was a small sob. She sat up again, ignoring the pain that burst in her head at the action and put her arms round him.

"I know I'm only human and I don't stand much chance of beating him, but I promise you I won't let him hurt me. I want you to teach me how to fight so that even if you aren't there I can hold him off until you are."

Dante slowly raised his arms and placed them round her, pulling her closely into him. He closed his eyes, allowing himself just this once to be comforted by the embrace of someone that genuinely cared. After a few minutes, he pulled back and cupped Carla's face in his hands.

"Okay, I'll train you to fight. I'm not going to take it easy on you though."

Carla smirked and Dante felt the usual jump in his heartbeat as she did.

"I wouldn't want you to."

They sat staring at each other for a few moments, ice blue meeting royal blue, neither one able to tear their gaze from the other. Carla saw Dante's eyes shift slightly and for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. Instead, she felt him let out a soft sigh and his lips brushed her cheek.

"Get some rest. I'll bring some food up for you later." Dante said softly.

Carla pushed the disappointment down and gave him a weak smile.

"Sure. Just make sure it's not pizza, okay?"

Dante laughed and waited until she'd settled back down to bed before leaving the room. As he shut the door behind him, he leant up against it and slid to the floor, holding his head in his hands. He couldn't clear the images of her beautiful face so close to his, her eyes burning into him as if she could see into his soul. All he'd wanted to do was kiss her and never let her leave, and he almost had kissed her if it wasn't for the annoying voice in his head reminding him that she would never feel the same way about him. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if she would've let him kiss her. He knew he'd seen disappointment in her eyes as he pulled away, but he just couldn't bring himself to actually believing he stood a chance at winning her love.

Pushing himself back up off the floor, Dante let out a growl. He needed a shower, and he knew the hot tap would be firmly off.


	9. Moving In

_I can't believe how quickly I'm getting this written- it's been a long time since my writer's block has cleared to this extent and I'm just glad it's done it now and not when I should really be revising! Still, in this chapter, Dante comes up with an idea and there's more bonding between Carla and Enzo in what I hope is a moving scene!_

_..._

It took three days for Carla's headache to clear itself. She stayed at Dante's through it, not quite wanting to go home while she felt so defenceless. Enzo too had moved out of the house, choosing to stay at a local hotel while the repairs were being done on the house. With the sleeping pattern he had, he would never get any sleep with all the crashing and banging, so he chose the easier option. When he told Carla, she couldn't help but laugh.

Finally though, Carla felt well enough to go home. She packed the bag Dante had put together for her and went down the hall, looking for the white haired man.

"Dante! Where are you?"

"In here!" came a muffled reply.

Carla noticed his voice came from the room next to his and gave it a confused look. She opened the door and giggled when she saw Dante's butt sticking in the air, his upper half stuck in a cupboard built into the wall.

"What are you doing?" she asked between giggles.

Dante pulled out of the cupboard and gave her a grin.

"I just thought I'd tidy up a bit, get this place looking more like a home."

Carla nodded and smiled. While he dipped back into the cupboard, Carla had a look around the room and noticed that it was pretty bare, save for a few objects that Dante had clearly just dumped there, such as a broken jukebox and a couple of unused handguns. There was a double bed shoved into the corner and other than the cupboard, the only furniture in the room consisted of an old desk and a bedside cabinet. The walls were painted lilac and the floor, which had no carpet, had white floorboards. Carla found that though the room was bare, there was a certain character to it and she could see its potential to be a beautiful room someday.

"Did you want something?" Dante asked, breaking her observations.

"Hey, yeah I did. I'm ready to go now. Do you want to come with me?" she asked.

Dante gave her a steady look and without saying anything, grabbed ebony and ivory off the bed.

"I take that as a yes" Carla said, the grin not leaving her face.

Dante playfully smirked and nodded. He moved to the door and before he left the room, he turned to face her.

"You should come here more often."

"Oh, and why's that?" she asked.

"Because you're a different person when you're here. You seem happier, more carefree. It suits you."

He vanished into his room to get his shoes and coat, leaving Carla staring at the now empty doorway in surprise. A thoughtful look crossed her face. Now that she thought about it, she realised he was right. She _did _feel happier here. She didn't have to put on the front of being the mature adult she was supposed to be. When she was here, she found Dante didn't have any expectations of her and without even realising it, she suddenly came to the understanding that he had actually helped her to find herself again. She was different. She felt different; lighter somehow.

When Dante came back into the room, she was still standing with the thoughtful expression on her face and he smiled.

"Hey, you can think later. Let's get you to your dad's; I've got a proposition for you both to help you."

That grabbed Carla's attention. She looked at him and he grinned.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I'd rather talk to both of you at the same time about it. Plus, I think I may need your dad's help on this one."

Carla frowned slightly, not sure if she liked the sound of that, but she found herself not really caring. She'd find out in good time.

By the time they got to the hotel, Carla was almost running, pulling Dante with her, who couldn't stop laughing. She wanted to know what his plan was, and she wanted to know _now_! As soon as Enzo opened the door to let them in, she spun on her heel and poked Dante in the chest.

"Okay, we're both here, what is this proposition?" she demanded.

Dante thought about pushing her and very nearly said that he wanted to rest a bit first, but the wild look in her eyes made him think twice. The last thing he wanted was her blasting him across the room. Plus, he'd really enjoyed her company the last few days and felt they'd actually begun to bond, so he decided for once to go with it.

"Okay, well, we all know Vergil is after Carla and wants to take the powers she clearly has. I was simply going to say that maybe, Carla, you could move in with me for a while. Then I could train you like I promised in the comfort of my own home and it would be easier to protect you. I have a few good hiding places in that house where you can go if you wanted when I leave for hunts and jobs."

Carla felt her jaw drop. Sure they got on better, but moving in with him? He mind was swimming.

"Wait, is that why you were cleaning that room?" she asked him.

Dante nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah. I was going to get it cleaned up and put new furniture in there before I asked you so at least it would be ready immediately."

Carla watched the way he spoke, his eyes looking at the floor, his hand still rubbing the back of his neck and it suddenly hit her. He was actually nervous about asking her. She almost wanted to laugh at the outrageous thought but it was so plainly obvious that he was nervous that she found she simply didn't have the heart to do it. Instead, she found herself grabbing his free hand. Dante looked at her in surprise and she gave him a warm smile.

"Okay Dante, you win. I'll move in but on two conditions."

Dante gulped.

"Yeah? They would be?"

"One; you keep the furniture in the room as it is. Maybe put a set of drawers in there, but other than that I thing the room looks nice as it is. Secondly; you treat me with respect. I meant it, one word to piss me off just because you feel like it and I'm out of there and back home with my dad. Got it?"

Dante grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, babe. Sure thing."

Enzo cleared his throat and the pair turned to face him.

"Dad, please don't say you're against this" Carla pleaded.

Enzo smiled and took her arm, leading her to one side. He then started talking in Italian.

"Are you sure about this? Not even a month ago you couldn't stand him. I know it's the safer option but are you certain you can handle being around him 24/7?"

Carla paused for a few moments and thought about it.

"You know what dad? I actually think I can cope. He's really not as bad as I thought. Plus, he said something this morning that I think was true. He said that when I'm around him I seem different and I have to admit that even though he winds me up and I could just kill him, I enjoy it. I actually enjoy not having to control myself around him."

Enzo smiled softly and put his hands on her shoulders. Carla raised a questioning eyebrow and he simply smiled more.

"I think you have feelings for him"

"What!" Carla yelled in English.

She turned to look at Dante, who was looking at them both in surprise and confusion at her outburst.

"Umm, I'm gonna go, leave you guys to it. I'll meet you at yours in an hour, okay Carla?"

Carla nodded, still too numb with shock from her father's observations to do anything else. Enzo called a cheerful farewell to Dante and as the door clicked shut, he braced himself for the yelling to start. True to form, as soon as Carla could no longer hear Dante's footsteps, she started shouting.

"What do you mean, I have feelings for him! Are you stupid? How could I have feelings for that...that...urgh!"

She threw herself backwards and landed on the bed with a loud 'fwump', letting out a sigh. Enzo cautiously walked over to her to see her rubbing her face with her hand, a defeated expression on her face.

"Carla? You okay?"

Carla glared at him out of the corner of her eye before sitting up again.

"Yeah, I guess. Maybe you're right. I don't know exactly what it is yet but I definitely don't hate him anymore. I've always found him attractive, but that's all. It's just, staying with him the last few days has shown me a more caring side to him. He brought me breakfast, lunch and dinner in bed, topped my drink up and gave me pain killers without me once having to ask for anything. He even cooked proper food for me. I think the fact I warned him that I didn't want pizza helped, but still, the Dante I first met would've served pizza anyway. It's weird and...wait. Why am I telling you this? It's strange!"

Enzo sat down next to her and chuckled, putting an arm round her shoulders.

"You're probably telling me because I am your dad after all. You said it yourself when you were younger that you could tell me anything. Admittedly you added that it was because I'd just get drunk and forget it all again, but at least you'd managed to get it off your chest."

Carla laughed. She'd forgotten that. She'd only been about nine at the time but even then she knew her dad was far from perfect.

"Can I admit something though?" Enzo added.

"What?" Carla asked.

"You see, I have this daughter who was forced to grow up from an early age because she had shut shit parents. She confided in me when she couldn't confide in anyone else about things because she knew I'd just forget, but I remembered everything she ever told me. Her first crush was a guy called Jake Brown. She once stole ten dollars from her mom to buy a Bon Jovi album she desperately wanted. She once thought about running away to California as she'd always wanted to go and maybe get a better family and she lost her virginity when she was eighteen to a guy called Samuel Novelle, who told her he'd marry her and help her escape from me and her mother but he never saw her again after that night. I may be a drunk and I may be a cowardly fool, but I also love my kid and she comes first."

Carla looked at her dad once again in a better light than she ever had in the past. She also started to understand exactly why Dante kept him as a close friend. He was loyal and could always be trusted with a secret. She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Really? You remembered all that?" she asked him.

"All that, and more" he responded.

Carla wrapped her arms round him and gave him a long, meaningful embrace. Enzo returned it and when they parted, he glanced at the clock.

"You'd better go, it takes fifteen minutes to get home and you only have twenty to get there."

Carla nodded and after brushing her tears off her face, gave him another long hug before leaving.

"Dad? Stay here for a while. Even when the house is fixed, stay here. I don't want Vergil trying to get to me through you. I'll call you to say I'm at Dante's but I won't ring again unless it's urgent."

Enzo looked at his daughter, suddenly seeing her for the first time as what she really was; a feisty and strong, yet still vulnerable, woman. He nodded.

"Okay. Please be careful, I'm begging you. And tell Dante to get rid of Vergil as soon as he can. I don't want it to be another god knows how many years before I see you again."

Carla rushed towards him and gave him one last bone-crushing hug.

"I love you so much, papa"

"I love you too, Mia bella figlia" Enzo responded.

Carla gave him a sad smile and with one last wave, she left, the door clicking shut behind her.

...

_Author's note: Mia bella Figlia = my beautiful daughter in Italian. So, Enzo basically said "I love you too, my beautiful daughter"_


	10. Unravelling the truth

_I planned to leave Vergil out for a while but then decided to just include him in this chapter and then have a few chapters without him. Still, I think he fits in here and Dante will also find out exactly why Vergil described Carla as ethereal in an earlier chapter!_

Carla arrived at the house a couple of minutes before Dante. When he knocked on the door, he was panting slightly and Carla grinned.

"What, did you run here or something?" she teased.

"Actually, yes. I did run here." Dante responded.

He brushed past her and Carla couldn't help but find it strange that she was the one joking around while Dante was the one being serious. She realized then that he really was taking her safety seriously and the light feeling inside her decreased a bit.

"What's wrong?" she asked Dante.

Dante looked up at her from the chair he'd casually sat down on in the kitchen.

"Huh? Nothing's wrong. Why would you think something's wrong?"

Carla leaned up against the doorframe and gave him a smirk.

"Actually, a number of things. The most predominant one is that I just teased you and smirked in the space of a minute and you didn't even notice. Plus, there's the way you're sitting in what looks to be a casual manner yet on further inspection, I can see you're tensed up, as if you're waiting for something to happen."

Dante could only stare at her in amazement as she smirked again and pushed herself away from the doorframe. She moved towards the stairs and called over her shoulder.

"Wait there, I'm just going to pack a few things. Oh, help yourself to anything in the kitchen as dad and I won't be using it for a while."

As Carla disappeared up to her room, Dante let out a chuckle, deciding that he definitely preferred the more carefree side of her than the serious side of her he'd been introduced to initially. He turned to the cupboards and quickly sorted through them, throwing various items into a carrier he found before sitting back in his chair, his whole being on alert. Something was up, he could just feel it.

Carla moved into her room and took a long look around. In a way, she was sad to leave it as she'd only just finished decorating it and putting in all the furniture and items she wanted, but in another way she was excited to be leaving. She had always been one for fresh starts and even though it would be a strange way to do it, moving with Dante would be the fresh start for her learning to be a better person as far as loosening up was concerned.

She pulled a large rucksack out from under her bed and opened it before standing back, deciding what to take. She wasn't sure how long she'd be with Dante but from what she'd seen of Vergil, he wouldn't give up any time soon so the likelihood was that she would no doubt be with Dante for a while. In the end, she simply threw all the clothes she owned into the bag, grateful for once that she didn't own a lot. Then, she decided to take a couple of home comforts with her to make the room feel more like hers. First to go in the bag was her baby blanket. Her mother had been adamant that Carla was going to be a boy and so had bought everything in blue. When a girl popped out, her mom had simply kept the blue things and bought more items in lilac and yellow to go with it. The baby blanket was one of the blue items her mom had bought and had even had the name Carl stitched to it, as that was the name she'd chosen. Fortunately, the lady at the shop was happy to add the extra A for no charge so the blanket became Carla's. Every time she looked at it, Carla couldn't help but smile, remembering how scatter-brained her mom could be with things like that.

Carla also decided to pack a couple of photos she had; one of her as a baby being held by both her parents, one of just her and her mom and the last one of her and her dad. Finally, she threw in a couple of books to read along with her guardian angel ornament; a present from her dad given to her the day she was born. Deciding she was ready, Carla picked up her rucksack and gave the room one last glance before turning the light off and shutting the door.

She turned to head back down the stairs, only to gasp and drop her bag as she bumped into a very solid chest. A pair of hands grasped her arms and she regained her balance.

"Dante! You scared me!"

"Sorry"

Carla looked up at him, noticing that he seemed detached. She saw that he was staring in the direction of her dad's room and gave him a confused look.

"Dante, what's...?"

"Ssh"

She fell silent and watched with a worried expression as he crept silently towards the room. He pushed the door open and as soon as he did, a demon sprung forward and crashed into him, sending him over the railing and down onto the floor below.

"Dante!" Carla screamed.

She ran towards the stairs but the demon grasped her, stopping her from moving. Without even pausing to think, she lurched forward and pulled the demon over her shoulder, sending it crashing down the stairs. It stopped at the bottom, seemingly in a daze but its attention was grabbed by Dante when the half-devil groaned. He sat up and rubbed his head, instantly grabbing ebony and ivory as the demon descended onto him, quickly joined by five others that appeared from nowhere.

"Carla, get out of here now!" Dante yelled.

Carla nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her and ran into the bathroom. She opened the window and climbed onto the ledge. She looked down to calculate the distance and after a brief pause, she crouched down and grasped the ledge. Slowly and carefully, she began to lower herself until she could drop safely to the ground below, but just as she began to lower herself, a demon appeared at the window. She screamed and lost her grip, screaming again as she fell to the floor. The impact she was expecting never came. Instead, she found herself in a pair of strong arms. She let out another scream and jumped out of their arms, turning to face him.

"Vergil. Should've known" she spat.

"So, have you worked out the source of your power yet?" Vergil asked her, dismissing her comment.

"Not yet, but I'm working on it" she bluffed.

Vergil raised an eyebrow.

"Well that's just too bad. I've had enough of waiting. I crave your power, and I want it. Now."

He reached out and grasped her arms, covering her mouth with his own. At first, Carla thought it was so that she couldn't scream, but suddenly, she realised that he was sucking and the breath in her body was beginning to leave her. She tried to breathe through her nose but he quickly covered it so that she was completely smothered and unable to breathe. He kept sucking and Carla felt as though something was being pushed up through her body. Feeling light headed from the lack of air, she began to thrash, but she was no match for him. She began to see black spots in her vision and knew she had to do something soon or he would kill her.

Suddenly, it was like something clicked in her. She focussed on the energy that she could feel being literally sucked out of her body and immediately sensed that whatever it was, it was fighting to stay inside her. She placed her hands on Vergil and immediately, it was like she'd set off an explosion. There was a brief flash of white light and Vergil was propelled through the air, barely managing to stop himself from crashing into a large oak tree. He glared at her and moved towards her but Dante came round the corner and fired a few rounds at him. Deciding he wasn't yet strong enough to take on Dante especially as he didn't have Yamato with him, Vergil simply nodded and vanished.

Dante looked at Carla, who was now lying on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Carla!"

She smiled weakly up at him.

"I'm okay. He tried to take that power he keeps talking about but I think I managed to use it to stop him. I just need air."

Dante nodded and while Carla continued gasping for breath, he quickly ran inside to grab her bag that had been abandoned in the upstairs hallway. As he turned to leave he had a thought and disappeared into her room to grab the lamp at the side of her bed. He knew he didn't have a spare one so she'd probably want it. As he turned to leave, he glanced at the photos she'd stuck to the walls, his eyes widening as he saw a photo in a frame with the word MOM underneath it. He whistled, half in shock, half in understanding and headed back outside, to see with relief that Carla had managed to get up onto her feel. Dante placed her bag on his shoulder and handed her the lamp.

"You'll need it," he said before she could ask. "And, I know what you are."


	11. Revelations

_So, we finally get to find out exactly what this power inside Carla is! _

"What am I?" Carla asked.

"Look, let's get back to mine. Then we can sit and talk and feel safer knowing all my weapons are in the room with us."

Carla nodded, agreeing with his logic and the pair set off to Dante's. On the way, Carla rang her Enzo, not surprised to find it went to voicemail, and left him a message stating that she was at Dante's and that he was to take care of himself. The rest of the walk back was silent. Carla couldn't stop thinking of the possible things she could be and Dante couldn't stop thinking about just how powerful she really was.

By the time they reached Dante's building, Carla was almost bursting with anticipation and as soon as the door shut, she opened her mouth, only to have Dante cover it with his hand.

"Sit. Be quiet. Now."

Carla sat on the sofa and pouted slightly. Dante grinned and sat next to her.

"when I went back in to get your bag, I thought you may need your lamp so firstly, I apologize for going in your room without your permission. Anyway, while I was in there, I had a quick look at the photos in your room and saw a photo of someone I once knew. Her name was Amary and she was an angel sent down to earth to help defeat the worst evil there is, the devil known as Mundus. She helped me defeat him but it came with a cost. She used up all of her powers and as a result was cast out of heaven as she was seen as tainted and weak. I never saw her again until I saw that photo today.

Carla didn't know how to respond. For a moment she sat there blankly straing at him then suddenly, she threw her head back and started laughing.

"My mom, an angel! Come on man, she was a heroin addicted, alcoholic prostitute! Nothing holy about that!"

Dante grabbed her and shook her, startling her.

"Don't you dare Carla! Your mother was one of the most powerful beings I ever met! With what happened to her, I would be more surprised if she didn't go off the rails! Do you have any idea what happens to an angel cast out of heaven?"

Carla shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. For the first time, she found she was actually afraid of Dante and she was struggling to contain the energy that built up when she was afraid. Dante continued, oblivious to her reaction.

"When an angel is cast out of heaven, their wings are literally ripped from their bodies and their celestial powers are sucked out of them. It's extremely rare that they survive and those that do usually end up killing themselves one way or another. Most commit suicide within a few days but the occasional few manage to hold on. I'm just trying to work out how you developed powers."

Carla by this point had managed to control her feelings and felt that it was safe enough for her to speak.

"What if by some chance whoever took her power didn't take it all and so it was passed in to me? When you think about it, something like an angel is meant to be pure and innocent, which by the time she was pregnant with me, mom clearly wasn't. Maybe her powers sensed the innocence of the baby, aka me, and moved into me and up until now it's laid dormant in me because I've never needed to use it."

Dante gave her a thoughtful look before grabbing her with a wide grin on his face.

"You are a genius. I never would've thought of that! It would explain why its only now surfacing. As you said, up until now you've never been in any real danger but because Vergil is technically hunting you, you need to be able to defend yourself. As you had no clue up until now what was going on, there was no way you could control it, hence your living room getting blown up, but now you can try and understand it and master it. That way you can use it against Vergil"

Carla nodded, but not with the enthusiasm Dante displayed. Dante noticed and asked what was wrong.

"It's just, even though I now know I'm half angel, I don't understand why Vergil is after me. How can he use my power? I just don't know. And even though I know what the power now is, I still don't know exactly what I can do with it or how to control it in any way. It's not like I can just go knock on an angels door and ask them to teach me."

A thoughtful expression crossed Dante's face. The pair fell into a comfortable silence, each one thinking about the situation they were in. Dante suddenly sat up and clicked his fingers.

"I got it! Vergil must've seen your mom and remembered fighting her when we fought Mundus. He then killed her to extract any remaining powers she had and when he realized that she was now human, it was too late to do anything as she was already dead, so he continued to look for me. I think seeing you that first time was purely coincidental but something in you must have intrigued him the same way it did me and now he knows what it is, he is determined to claim it. As for your question about what he can do with the power. Even though you only have a small amount of an angels full power, it's enough to kill a powerful demon. Vergil only has one real goal in life which is to fully embrace his devil side and kill me. By using your powers, he would have enough strength to actually do that. For him, stealing your power is the key to his success. He could probably take over the whole of Hell with that power."

"Wow." Carla squeaked. "So, protecting me just got a bit more important."

Dante glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, I'm afraid it is. Even more importantly is training you to fight and I'm going to get in touch with a couple of associates that may be able to track down an angel for us to train you how to use that power inside of you."

He got up off the sofa and made his way into his office. A few minutes later, Carla heard him talking to someone on the phone and decided to take her things up to her new room to give him a bit of privacy. As she went into the room she couldn't hold back her surprised gasp. Dante had well and truly cleaned up. Everything was cleaned to perfection and he had rearranged the furniture so that the room looked more organised. The black material that had previously covered the window had been replaced with a pair of white curtains, the floor had a large lilac rug on it and he'd put in a set of drawers as well as a bookcase. A couple of shelves had been put up above the desk and a large mirror had been placed in one corner of the room, next to a large floor lamp. If Carla didn't know better she would've thought that she was in the wrong house. It was breathtakingly beautiful and she found her heart swelling with the knowledge that Dante had done it for her.

"Do you like it?"

Carla yelped and spun to face Dante, placing her hand on her heart.

"Bloody hell Dante! How can you be so noisy in one instant and silent the next?"

Dante gave her one his cheeky grins and winked.

"That would be telling a secret and I don't know if I want you knowing it yet" he joked.

Carla rolled her eyes and playfully punched him on the arm.

"By the way, to answer your question, I think it's perfect. I can't believe you did this for me."

She glanced at Dante to see the nervous look on his face. Clearly he wasn't very comfortable with compliments.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want you living in a crap hole like the rest of the building is. At least this room was in reasonably good condition."

"So why didn't you use it?" she asked.

"Nah. I prefer the room that's closer to my weapons to be honest."

Carla smiled and nodded to show her understanding.

"Oh, I forgot to say that there is a door at the back of the cupboard that leads to the bathroom. I know it's strange but the previous owner did it. Just lock the main bathroom door when you're in there so I don't ever walk in on you."

Carla laughed and agreed. she then did something that surprised them both and put her arms round his waist, hugging him. She felt Dante tense and moved to pull away but his arms snaked round her and returned her embrace. She rested her head on his chest and for a moment, she felt content. For a moment, she found herself not caring about Vergil and not caring about the fact her life was in danger. For a moment, she could simply be happy.

The moment didn't last very long as the phone in the office began to ring. Carla heard Dante make a noise that sounded a mixture of a growl and a sigh before he pulled away and gave her an apologetic smile.

"I gotta take that. It's probably my friend Trish asking what I want from her this time."

Carla gave him a warm smile.

"It's fine. I'm just going to unpack."

Dante nodded and quickly ran to his office to answer the phone before whoever it was hung up. Carla shook her head as he went and turned back to look at the room. As she thought of the way they'd just been holding each other, she felt herself blush. She just hoped it meant the same to him the same way it meant to her. She spent a few minutes sorting through her things when there was a tap at the door.

"Hey" Dante greeted.

"Yo" She replied.

"So, that was Trish. She said she knows where there's another fallen angel living a few towns over so she's going to track him down and ask him to help you. He may be reluctant though, as he may very well be resentful that a human has angelic powers and he doesn't, so don't get your hopes up."

Carla shrugged.

"I wouldn't get my hoped up anyway. I was sort of expecting any person to be like that in those circumstances."

Dante smiled, reminding himself once again that she really was far beyond her years in terms of wisdom.

"So, anyway. In the meantime, you may want to get changed into something you don't mind getting sweaty in."

Carla raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, you may not want to ruin any clothes you hold any value to. I told you I wasn't going to take it easy on you and now you're officially living here, I think it's time to start your training, wouldn;t you agree?"

Carla didn't know what to say so settled for looking at him in shock. Dante simply grinned.

"See you downstairs!" he called as he left her room.


	12. Training

_So, the training starts! And with it, comes a whole lotta built up tension and frustration!_

Carla didn't think she had it in her to full-on hate somebody but she certainly found herself close to it with Dante. By the time he decided to end their first training session, the only part of her body that wasn't agony was her head. She dropped onto the floor in an exhausted heap, sweat pouring off her, soaking her top and trousers and running down her face. Dante on the other hand was barely panting and looked like he'd simply gone for a light jog round the block.

"Good job, I'm shocked you kept up. Looks like I need to push you a bit harder next time." He commented.

He walked into the kitchen, missing the glare Carla sent him, and began whistling as he threw some leftover pizza in the microwave. Carla struggled to her feet and dragged herself up the stairs. The first thing she did was lock herself in the bathroom and jump into the shower, turning it as cold as she could tolerate to ease the muscles. Not caring that they were Dante's, she grabbed the nearest towel to her and unlocked the main door before heading back to her room via the cupboard. She threw on the first set of pyjamas she could find and within minutes of her head hitting the pillow she was fast asleep. Dante looked in on her a short while later and smiled.

The next week was a living hell for Carla, as Dante pushed her to her limits and beyond. Runs, strength exercises, combat skills and weapon handling were all covered on a daily basis. Carla wouldn't have minded if it wasn't for the fact that within minutes of being taught something, she perfected it and so was ready to move onto the next thing. It was one thing she detested about herself. Her stupid pride wouldn't let her take it easy and so she unwillingly found herself constantly pushing her boundaries, fuelled by her desire to prove to Dante that she could take anything he threw at her.

Dante was pleasantly surprised by Carla's abilities. Even though he could see her close to giving up at times, he could see the determination and drive fuelling her and he felt proud that she wouldn't give up. It also unleashed something in him too; the drive to push her further and further. He just didn't realize that he was pushing her a bit too far too quickly, as he found out the following day.

After being up half the night with bad stomach cramps, Carla wasn't in the best frame of mind when she started training. Her warm up was sloppy and Dante could see that her movements were sluggish. Fearing that she would hurt herself if she used any weapons, he decided to spend the day focusing on her hand to hand combat techniques. At first, Carla found she could keep up with him but by the time they broke for lunch, she could feel herself becoming light-headed as the fatigue from lack of sleep started to settle in. She tried to jog it off, but it only made her feel worse. She went into the kitchen and splashed cold water on her face before returning to the main room to continue training.

Dante immediately noticed that she wasn't focused on his movements, so decided to push forward. Carla, feeling slightly out of it, forgot for a split second what she was doing, so as the fist came towards her, she instinctively let out a loud scream. A ball of blue light formed in front of her and engulfed Dante as he touched it, unable to stop himself as he was moving too fast to stop. Time seemed to stand still as Carla turned to see what had just happened, just in time for the ball to implode on itself. Dante's eyes opened wide and his mouth opened in a silent scream. His body jerked a couple of times and when the light finally gave out, he collapsed to the floor, the only sign of injury being the blood pouring from his nose.

"Oh my god, oh my god, what did I do? Holy crap, Dante I am so sorry!" Carla stammered as she rushed over to him.

She turned him on his back, begging him to still be alive. When she saw he was breathing she almost sobbed with relief but settled for letting a few tears slide down her cheeks. She managed to drag him to the sofa and lay him down gently on it before finally succumbing to her tears, muttering how sorry she was over and over again.

Dante woke to the sound of Carla crying and apologising. He winced as he tried to move, but he ignored it as he lifted his arm and gently touched her hand. Her head shot up and she looked at him with such relief and worry, he couldn't help but feel himself blush slightly.

"It wasn't your fault" he reassured her.

Carla simply shook her head, tears continuing to fall.

"It is. If I just knew how to control it, I wouldn't have hurt you."

Dante gave her a playful smirk and flicked her chin.

"At least I'm not dead. That's something we should be thankful for."

Carla gave him a wobbly smile and offered to get him something to drink.

"Nah, I'm good. You could help me get to bed though. That took it out of me a bit. I'm just glad I'm not fully human or I would've been a goner for sure."

Carla looked at him with startled eyes, not realizing how powerful her attack actually was. Dante could see she was about to cry and put a comforting arm round her.

"Come on, help me to bed, then you can cry all you want."

As much as she didn't want to, Carla found herself laughing and put her arm round his waist. She inwardly winced each time he limped and twice she heard him stifle a sharp breath of pain, but she didn't say anything as she knew he was trying not to bring attention to it. She could tell he was worse than he let on, but appreciated that he was trying to keep her calm. As soon as he was lying down, Carla took his shoes and pants off, leaving him just in his boxers. Fighting the blush that was creeping onto her face, she grabbed his covers and threw them over him, noting that he too was blushing very slightly. She sat down on the edge of his bed and twirled her finger round a loose thread on his covers, not noticing that he had already closed his eyes and was almost asleep.

"Dante?" she said in a very small voice.

"Mmm?" he responded.

"I really am sorry." She said.

Yet again, she felt warm tears fall down her face and she angrily brushed them away. Dante cracked one eye open and gazed at her sleepily.

"Don't do that."

"do what? Wipe my face?"

Dante snorted then winced as he jarred his sore ribs.

"No. Don't blame yourself. It only leads to hating yourself which eventually leads to the path of self destruction that you've already seen first-hand."

"like my mom" she mumbled.

Dante reached up and cupped her face. His eyes bore into hers and she found herself unable to tear her eyes away.

"Exactly. So, promise me you'll forgive yourself."

"Okay" Carla whispered.

"Good."

Dante let go of her and his eyes slid shut once more. Carla sat watching him for a few minutes, then leant over to kiss his forehead before leaving his room. She didn't see the soft smile on his face as she left.

She walked into her room and sat on the bed, suddenly noticing for the first time that her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She balled them into fists and took deep breathes, eventually calming herself down. Deciding it was too late to do anything else; Carla changed into her nightwear and slid into bed. Immediately her thoughts strayed to the day's events and when she recalled the fear she felt at the thought that she'd nearly killed Dante, she let out a gasp and sat up. It wasn't the 'oh-my-god-I-killed-a-guy' fear she'd felt. It was the oh-my-god-I-can't-live-without-him kind of fear.

Somehow and somewhere along the way, she'd fallen in love with Dante, and it had taken almost killing him for her to realize it.


	13. I Love You

_Okay, so they've started training and Carla discovered something else she can do with her powers. In this chapter, disappointment leads to revelations and more! On with the show then!_

They decided to take it easy for a few days and while Dante healed, Carla stuck more to working on her running exercises, each day managing to push herself further than the day before. She could feel that she was quickly toning up and also noticed that her clothes were feeling looser on her, something she took as a good sign. On the fourth day, Carla was woken up by Dante flinging her curtains open.

"Urgh, what the...Dante!"

Dante grinned and threw her jumper to her.

"Come on, get up. I want to get started. You missed a lot while I was out of action."

Carla stuck her tongue out at him before pulling her jumper on and heading to the kitchen for breakfast. Dante started to follow her but the phone ringing stopped him. He groaned and forced himself to go to the study to answer it as he knew it was probably important.

While Dante was on the phone, Carla occupied herself with making breakfast for them both. When Dante came into the room, she was halfway through placing the food on the plates. She looked up to smile, but it faded when she saw the serious look in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked, handing him a plate.

Dante nodded his thanks and sat down to eat.

"That was Trish. The angel she was tracking refused to help. He said he refused to get involved. I'm so sorry."

Carla lowered the fork that was halfway to her mouth and lowered her head. She then looked back up at Dante with a determination in her eyes that he'd never seen before.

"Well then, guess I'll just have to teach myself, won't I?" she said with a grin.

Dante looked at her before frowning slightly.

"Okay, who are you and what did you do with Carla?"

Carla grinned even more and shrugged.

"I guess she decided she'd had enough of all the bullshit and decided to fight back for once in her life. You see, she met this half devil, half human guy called Dante who taught me how to just let loose and be me. I guess you could say I owe him my life in more ways than one."

Dante's jaw dropped and he looked at her, completely shocked by her confession. Carla giggled and moved over to him, shutting his mouth with her hand and kissing his cheek before moving into the main room to warm up. It was only after she left that Dante realized she'd stolen a slice of his toast.

That day was harder than Carla thought it would be, and by the evening, she found herself as weary as she had been the other day. She opened her mouth to tell Dante but he was in the middle of trying to kick her. She felt the familiar surge of her power building up and the next thing she knew the blue light appeared again.

"Oh shit" Dante muttered.

Acting quickly, Carla focused and imagined that she was a vaccum sucking the energy back into her. Slowly, she noticed that the light had stopped growing and was shrinking. She continued to focus, feeling a pressure building up in her that was threatening to explode but she fiercly pushed it down. The light finally disappeared and she sank to the floor. Dante rushed over to her and caught her before she fell completely. She looked up at him, a goofy grin on her face.

"See? Teaching myself to control it."

Dante frowned at her as he noticed her nose was bleeding heavily. He took his top off and gently pressed it against her nose. A few minutes passed until Dante decided it was okay and he helped her up off the floor. Carla held up his blood stained shirt and smiled sheepishly.

"Umm, sorry about that."

Dante chuckled and took it off her.

"I guess you'll just have to owe me. By the way, don't ever worry me like that again. I thought you'd killed yourself."

Carla looked at him and even though he was trying to look casual, she could see the masked fear in his eyes. She walked over to him and this time, she was the one to cup his face. Dante closed his eyes and leaned into her palm. Carla stroked his cheek fondly.

"I told you, I'm not dying yet."

Dante's eyes opened again and before either of them really knew what was happening, his lips pressed against hers. Carla's eyes widened in surprise but in an instant they slid shut as she returned the kiss with as much passion as she could. Her hands slid down his torso, tracing along his well defined muscles and toned stomach and she felt him shudder.

"Damn I've been wanting to do this for so long" he half-growled.

His voice sent a shiver of pleasure up Carla's back and she pulled him to her once again. In the background, the phone began to ring, but just for once, Dante let it ring, instead choosing to savour the moment. As the kiss became more heated, he lifted Carla up and she wrapped her legs round his waist. He carried her upstairs, not once breaking the kiss. Without speaking, he moved into his room and dropped her gently on the bed. She gazed up at him and when he saw the love burning in her eyes, he found himself choking up for the first time in years.

"God, you are so beautiful."

Carla sat up and kissed him softly.

"So are you. You've helped me so much Dante. Because of you I'm me again. I haven't felt so...alive in years. I think...no, I know, I love you."

Dante's eyes widened and his mouth formed an 'O' of surprise.

"Really?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice steady.

He didn't want to believe it; surely it was a joke. Nobody loved him and if they did they always died.

"I meant it. I love you, Dante Sparda."

He broke. Letting a single tear fall, he grabbed her slightly rougher than he meant to and crashed his mouth onto hers, kissing her with as much passion as he could muster. When they parted, they were both gasping for breath.

"I love you too, Carla Ferino."

Carla smiled warmly at him and kissed him softly. She then removed her top and kissed him again.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Dante asked her.

"Dante, if you don't kiss me right now I will kill you."

Dante laughed and did as she commanded. That was the last they spoke that night.


	14. The End Part 1

_So, finally they've gotten together! I hope it wasn't too fast but I wanted the story to progress to the next level. Okay, so Vergil makes his grand reappearance, what's going to happen? You'll just have to read it to find out, won't you?_

_As always, enjoy! I can't believe it's almost at the end already! There's only two more chapters to go after this one folks!_

The following morning, Carla woke to find that she was wrapped up in Dante's arms, her head lying on his bare chest, using him as a pillow. She smiled warmly, for the first time in years feeling genuinely happy with her life, and snuggled into him, breathing a contented sigh. She felt Dante stir and his arms tightened slightly round her body and he buried his head in her hair.

"Morning sweetheart." He murmured into her hair.

Carla smiled and kissed his chest.

"Morning." She replied happily.

They lay wrapped up in each other's embrace for a while before Dante's stomach growled loudly, informing them that he was hungry. They both laughed as Carla's stomach joined in and Carla sat up, almost forgetting to wrap the covers round herself as she did. Dante, who had no shame, simply stood up and walked to his clothes, playfully wiggling his butt as he went, causing Carla to laugh.

"you're such a dolt." She commented.

Dante pulled his jeans and smirked at her.

"Yeah, but you know you love it."

He leaned over and kissed her. She sighed into the kiss and smiled as they parted.

"Unfortunately, yes" she agreed.

Dante laughed and left the room. Carla, not wanting to go back to her room just yet, simply went into Dante's drawers and pulled on a pair of his boxers and a clean t-shirt before heading downstairs to cook breakfast.

Dante came out of the bathroom and when he smelt the aroma of bacon in the air, his stomach growled. Deciding to wait until later to put a shirt on, he sleepily made his way down to meet Carla only to be stopped when he saw what she was wearing.

"Umm, are those my clothes?" he asked.

"yep" Carla answered, making the p pop.

Dante groaned and decided he would probably be needing a very cold shower before they trained. He then thought about dragging Carla with him but in the end he decided he would still like to live another day, so settled for suggesting she not wear his clothes unless she wanted him to ravage her. Carla shrugged.

"What makes you think I don't want you to ravage me?" she asked innocently.

The food that was in Dante's mouth ended up across the table as he spluttered in shock at her statement. That was something he most certainly had not been expecting. Carla smirked and proceeded to clear it up, telling him to go and get dressed so they could start training.

"Don't you need to dress too?" he asked her.

Carla nodded.

"yeah, but you take longer than me"

Dante sighed, knowing she was right. He gave her one last kiss before leaving to get ready for their training session.

Carla continued to clean up the mess he left behind but after just a few seconds she heard a loud thud and her movements stilled.

"Dante? You okay?" she called.

There was no response. Immediately, her whole body went on alert and she slowly made her way to the kitchen door before peering out. For a moment, she could only stand in shock at the sight of Dante unconscious on the floor, Vergil standing over him, smirking at her, but she quickly recovered and glared.

"Dante!" she yelled.

Dante didn't even move and if it wasn't for the fact she could see he was still breathing, she would have thought he was dead. She noticed Vergil looking at her in anger and she frowned.

"Why don't you take a photo? It might last longer."

"You are wearing his clothes" he said, indicating to Dante by nudging him in the ribs.

Dante groaned and Carla's anger rose a few notches.

"so what if I am?" she challenged.

Vergil growled and his glare intensified.

"I don't like your attitude. You've changed over the past few weeks and I fear it isn't for the best for you."

"Maybe I'm just not afraid of you anymore."

Instead of glaring, Vergil simply smirked. Carla began to regret her brashness as the familiar chill overtook her. Vergil unsheathed his sword and stepped towards her, but without pausing, she channelled into her energy and sent a small ball of energy towards him. As it reached him, it exploded into a light too bright to look at and he yelled in pain, covering his eyes and giving Carla the opportunity to run.

She decided that upstairs was her best hope as her shoes were up there as well as the weapons. As long as she could get to those things she knew she could hold him off until Dante woke up. She just hoped she'd managed to stop Vergil enough now to see her plan through.


	15. The End Part 2

_Part 2 of 3 for the ending- I hope you like it and sorry the chapters are a bit small- I wanted to break the end up, to make it a bit more exciting!_

She made it to her bedroom without anything stopping her and gave a small sigh. As quietly as she could, she ran to her cupboard and pulled out her trainers, quickly throwing them on. She them reached up and pulled out two handguns similar to ebony and ivory as well as a small katana that Dante had given her to practice with.

She then ran towards Dante's room, remembering that there was a small platform jutting out that she could jump onto and safely jump out of the building to get away and call for help. Fortunately she thought to grab Dante's cell off his bedside cabinet so that she could call Trish for backup. She flung the window open and managed to get one leg out of it when she felt a hand grasp her leg and roughly pull her back into the room. She crashed onto Dante's desk and let out a yelp of pain. She found herself being thrown towards the bed and she landed not so gracefully on it. A whoosh of air escaped her as the wind was knocked out of her and she had to take a couple of deep breaths to re-catch her breath.

"Well, this is very interesting. I wonder what my Dante would say to his brother up in his bedroom with his girlfriend. Or is that his whore?"

Carla glared at him and pushed herself up off the bed.

"I would stick with girlfriend if I were you, buddy"

Vergil smirked at her anger, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to make her fear him once again. He moved closer to her and grabbed her arm. Carla raised her other arm to defend herself but he simply grabbed that one too. She reverted to trying to break his grasp the same way Dante had taught her but she soon realized that she was no match for Vergil's strength. Vergil roughly pushed her onto the bed and before she had time to react, he was above her, pinning her to it. She looked up at him in fear and he smirked.

"Ah, there it is. The fear I knew you still had."

Carla wanted to run, wanted to be anywhere else but as she still didn't quite know how to control her power, she found herself too unstable to form any kind of attack against him. Vergil lowered his head closer to hers and she felt her stomach churn, but not in the good way.

"So, do you still think you're boyfriend will save you? I mean, I could easily have my way with you up here and he's still blissfully unaware of it as he's still probably unconscious."

Carla's head snapped to look at him and she gave him her hardest glare. She wanted to scream, but she knew it was no good as she was too scared to do anything other than whimper as his face came closer to hers.

"Please don't" she begged.

Vergil smirked but didn't stop. Soon, his hand clasped her nose and his mouth once again was pressed on hers, beginning to suck her energy. Carla managed to free one of her legs and she brought her knee up sharply, hitting him in the back. He let out a small grunt and pulled away to see what it was, not realizing it had been Carla. Seeing her opportunity, Carla quickly placed her hands on his chest and managed to summon the blue light. Straight away, it engulfed him and just as it had done with Dante, it suddenly shrank and exploded and Vergil crashed onto the floor. Carla found herself smirking and as she scrambled off the bed, she kicked him as hard as she could in the face, giving a satisfied smile when he moaned and blood began to trickle out of his mouth.

Carla knew she probably didn't have much time before he woke up and was also aware that he would probably get up quicker than Dante did because he had actually succeeded in stealing some of her power.

She ran to her room and looked out of the window, shuddering at the drop. Back home, the drop wasn't too bad but here, without the ledge to help her, it would be quite a drop and if she landed even slightly wrong then her chances of escaping were nil as she'd probably break both her legs or something. She took a couple of deep breaths to steel herself and after dropping her guns and sword out onto the ground, she climbed out of the window so that she was hanging from the windowsill. She took a couple more breaths and lined herself up but just as she was about to let go, a hand shot out and grasped her arm.

She let out a scream which made her let go of the ledge, but another hand joined the first one and grabbed her other arm.

"Jesus, Carla, are you trying to kill yourself!"

Carla nearly cried. Dante. He pulled her into the room and the pair fell on the floor together. Carla wrapped her arms round him and kissed him once.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I'll be fine. What about you? Did he hurt you?"

"A little bit," she admitted. "Dante, he also managed to get some of my power. Not much but some."

"What!" Dante hissed. "How?"

Carla started to tell him about what happened, and his eyes darkened with rage. Just as she told him about knocking Vergil unconscious, he suddenly covered her mouth and pushed her behind the bed. He crouched down next to her and gave her ebony and ivory.

"Keep hold of these. Stay here and only use them if you have no other choice. Something I was going to suggest in training is to use your energy to power the bullets."

Carla looked at him with fearful eyes.

"Dante, what's going on?"


	16. The End: Finale

_Finally, the end! Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it. I am so proud of this story, I initially had a completely different idea for it, but it really just wrote itself, so I went with it! I do have plans for a sequel so watch this space!_

A noise from outside answered her question. She could hear footsteps heading their way and suddenly the door flew open. Dante quickly pushed her out of sight and she held her breath as Vergil came into the room.

"Hello little brother. How's your head?" he taunted.

"It's not bad. How's your body?" Dante responded in his usual manner.

Vergil glared at Dante and raised Yamato. Dante simply responded by raising Rebellion. The pair charged at the same time and the last thing Carla saw of them was the sight of them jumping off the landing. She knew Dante said to stay out of sight but something inside her made her go and look to see if he was okay. Just as she reached the banister and was about to peer over, Dante yelled up to her.

"I said stay where you were!"

Carla quickly shuffled back to her hiding place, feeling relieved that he was okay for now but also angry at him for yelling at her like that. For a few minutes, she heard the brothers fighting but then a new noise joined in that made her stiffen. A shuffling from the doorway was moving closer to her. Carla slowly turned and when she saw three demons closing in on her, she let out a small yell and didn't hesitate to fire ebony and ivory at them, killing them all. Another appeared behind her, followed by three more and she found herself being pushed out into the hallway. Panic filled her; if Dante saw her he'd probably yell at her again. On the other hand, if Vergil saw her he would probably kill her.

"Ah, to Hell with this shit!" she yelled and began firing at the demons.

Dante and Vergil both looked up at her exclamation, both with shocked expressions. Dante was shocked that she was there, fighting and Vergil was surprised that she'd opted to fight instead of running like he thought she would.

"Carla, run!" Dante yelled.

Carla finished the last demon and turned to look at him before anymore appeared.

"No, Dante."

She then turned her gaze to Vergil and glared.

"I'm tired of always trying to run. Besides, it's never worked so far, so I'm not even gonna try."

Dante felt a wave of pride hit him but pushed it back. he needed to focus on his fight right now. He noticed she was looking at him again and he gave her an encouraging nod of the head. She smirked and without even turning round, simply pointed ivory over her shoulder and shot a demon that was trying to sneak up on her, instantly turning it to dust.

"Dante, look out!" she screamed.

Dante dodged Vergil's sword just in time and instantly his attention was brought back to his brother. As their swords clashed again, he growled. No way was he going to lose. Even though Vergil had the angel's power in him, Dante was determined he was going to win no matter what the cost.

Carla turned to face the new bath of demons and gulped as she noted that there were more than double the last lot. She gripped ebony and ivory harder, continuing to pump them full of lead and groaning as each time, more popped up to replace the ones she killed. she glanced down at Dante on occasion to see that he was still holding Vergil back and she smiled. Her smile didn't last long as the demons lurched forwards and she stepped back, only to find that she was at the top of the stairs. With a scream, she toppled down them, crying out when she reached the bottom and felt something crack. It wasn't until she moved that she realised it was her left arm. She let out a cry as a demon tackled her, but the next thing she knew, the demon had been turned to dust, caused by her angelic powers once again saving her.

Dante managed to push Vergil back and took the second to glance at Carla. He wanted to go and help her so desperately but he was also fully aware that if he took his attention off Vergil for just a moment, he would be dead. Instead, he continued to fight his twin, praying that somehow, Carla and he would make it out alive.

Carla tired to ignore the pain in her arm as she kept firing at the demons. She noticed something glistening out of the corner of her eyes and upon further inspection, she recognised it as the sword Dante used to train her with. She rushed over to it and grasped it, killing four demons in the first swing. The others paused before they continued to advance and Carla continued to cut them down, not realizing how close to danger she was.

It wasn't until she found herself blocking Vergil's sword that she realized that the demons had deliberately pushed her back, towards Vergil. Her eyes widened and she tried to duck, but Vergil was too fast for her and he grabbed her, halting her movements. He grasped her hair and tilted her head upwards.

"Not this time, you won't." she growled.

She focused her energy and held her hand out to Dante. He dodged past Vergil and as soon as his hand touched hers, he felt a rush of pure power flood through him. Unable to control it, he shifted into his devil form and stared at Vergil.

"Let her go. Now."

Vergil smirked and shoved Carla to one side before he too transformed into his devil form. Carla could only watch with a mixture of horror and admiration as the two battled and before long, Vergil fell to the floor, back in his human form. Dante also powered down.

"Give up, Vergil. You aren't going to win this one."

Vergil spat some blood on the floor and Carla grimaced, knowing she would be the one to clean it up later. He lunged forward, Yamato drawn, aiming for Carla. Without even thinking, Carla pulled Ebony out of her waistband and used her energy to fuel the bullet, like Dante suggested. She fired and the bullet, moving at twice the speed and being twice the size it usually was, ripped straight through Vergil's stomach. At the same time, Rebellion pierced through his shoulder. Vergil roared in agony and fell to the floor. He pulled Rebellion out of his shoulder and sent Dante a glare.

"You...may have beaten me...brother, but this is...not over."

He was suddenly surrounded by demons and when they vanished, he too was gone. Dante leaned back against the sofa and Carla dropped ebony onto the floor. Dante looked over at her and ran to catch her just as she fainted.

"Urgh, I feel groggy. I think I used too much of my power." She groaned.

Dante grinned and kissed her.

"At least it's over for now. Trust me, he won't be back for a long time."

Carla smiled up at him and noticed he seemed saddened.

"What?" she asked.

"I guess it means you don't need to live here anymore."

Carla laughed and Dante gave her a confused look.

"Of course I need to live here you dolt! Who else is going to make sure you eat properly and clean up all the messes you leave behind? Plus, there's no way I'm giving up that beautiful bedroom. Oh, and there's this super hot guy that I guess is okay who also happens to live there."

Dante's mouth crashed on Carla's and when they parted he smiled.

"So I guess you're moving in permanently, huh?"

"Yup. I don't plan on leaving any time soon. Well, I need to leave in a minute because I'm pretty sure my arm is broken, but I don't plan on leaving again after that for a while"

Dante grinned and put an arm round her.

"God I love you" he murmured.

"Love you too." She responded.

And, for the first time in her life, she felt true happiness in the arms of the man she loved.


End file.
